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Netflix's Girl in the Picture, helmed by Abducted in Plain Sight's director Skye Borgman, documents an alleged hit-and-run case from 1990, which had investigators stumped for almost three decades.
The documentary takes viewers back and forth in the murder case of Sharon Marshall aka Tonya Hughes, originally known as Suzanne Sevakis. It also recounts the events of her son Michael Hughes' kidnapping, and the murder of Cheryl Commesso.
Running on a series of different timelines in the form of flashbacks, it follows different aliases Sharon and her so-called father Warren Marshall used throughout the years, starting from the late 70s to the early 90s.
Girl in the Picture: Keeps viewers at the edge of their seats right till the end
The story recounts a tragic and horrific tale as it explores the growing mystery around the ostensibly straightforward 1990 hit-and-run case of 20-year-old Tonya Hughes, a stripper working in Tulsa.
In this regard, it is commendable how much the documentary was able to expose just via interviews and the first-hand experiences recounted by a few of the people involved. As the plot develops, the audience is made privy to the deep trauma and web of lies that pervaded Tonya's life.
Skye Borgman's style of creating a documentary with scattered information to keep the audience engaged plays a key role in this case, where all the loose ends are tied up right at the very end. While viewers may feel that they know it all halfway through the documentary, the unexpected twists and turns will constantly keep them on their toes and leave them guessing.
To get a better understanding of what transpired, here's a quick look at the aliases that Suzanne took up to maintain the facade that her "father figure" forced her into.
1) Tonya Hughes
Shortly after her accident, Tonya Hughes was discovered on the side of the road alongside the debris, and rushed to the hospital. She eventually passed away, leaving behind her strangely older husband, Clarence Hughes, and a 2-year-old son, Michael Hughes.
Back then, doctors and nurses believed that the injuries sustained by Tonya were different from what normally occurs during a vehicle accident, saying that her injuries were more consistent with being brutally assaulted.
The victim's acquaintances deemed her husband to be "weird", and often considered their relationship a strange one. In fact, Clarence Hughes had even prohibited guests from entering Tonya's hospital room. The husband soon became a person of interest when the case was declared a homicide and the young son was sent away to a foster home.
When she inexplicably died, prompting friends to notify Tonya's family members, they found her mother, who claimed that Tonya Hughes, her daughter, had passed away when she was just a child. However, it was soon discovered that the victim's real name was not Tonya, further complicating the murder case.
2) Sharon Marshall
The documentary then moves to the 1980s, telling the story of a gifted high school student, Sharon Marshall, an aerospace engineering aspirant who had even earned a full scholarship to Georgia Tech.
While she was praised by many of her friends, they also noticed her strange and fearful relationship with her father, Warren Marshall - an oddball who was excessively harsh.
As per Girl in the Picture, one of her friends even stated that on one occasion, Warren had r*ped his daughter at gunpoint while her friend was present in the room. It was later revealed that her own stepfather, a psychopath and abuser, had kidnapped her when she was only five years old and subsequently tormented her for all those years.
Unfortunately, Sharon's bright future came to an abrupt end when she got pregnant before college. Her manipulative and abusive so-called father then packed up and left town with her to relocate.
3) Suzanne Marie Sevakis
The final stages of Girl in the Picture takes the audience further in the past, introducing them to 5-year-old Suzanne Sevakis, who was kidnapped by her step-father Franklin Floyd. Her mother, Sandra Chipman, had married Floyd when she was going through a dark phase in her life, but soon realized that he was not the kind of man she wanted to be with.
By the time she asked for help, Floyd had already left with her three daughters, the eldest being Suzanne (who later became Sharon Marshall/Tonya Hughes). He dropped the younger girls at an oprhanage and escaped with the eldest to continue with life, which eventually turned into the traumatic journey of Sharon and finally, Tonya.
What finally happened in the hit-and-run case of Tonya Hughes in Girl in the Picture?
Even with the involvement of FBI agents, local authorities, other law enforcement, and investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck, who refused to give up on the case until the mystery around her identity was solved, it took nearly three decades before the culprit, Franklin Floyd, could finally be put behind bars on death row.
Girl in the Picture also revealed the tragic murders of Sharon's co-worker and friend Cheryl and her young son, Michael Hughes, who also fell prey to the agony caused by Floyd.
Reportedly, Floyd remains imprisoned on death row at the age of 79.
Girl in the Picture: A final review
A little complicated to comprehend, considering the different aliases and timelines, Girl in the Picture, despite its many layers, proves to be a bone-chilling documentary of an innocent 5-year-old who was snatched from the arms of her mother, only to be victimized by a man no less than a monster.
The picture mentioned in the title is a reference to the cover image of the documentary, depicting a young girl sitting on her father's lap. Judging by her facial expression, it can be understood that she is uncomfortable. By the end of the documentary, it becomes evident that this girl is Sharon Marshall.
What is especially commendable in the documentary is how it sensitively handles the testimonies and first-hand accounts, and resists delving too much into the details about the perpetrator.
Despite uncovering horrifying and shocking details about the case, the underlying tone manages to respect the boundaries of those victimized. At the same time, it offers a comprehensive account of what might otherwise seem to be a convolunted string of incidents, thereby doing justice to the case.
Girl in the Picture is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.
